On December 12, 2025, the United Kingdom announced sweeping sanctions on four senior commanders of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused of spearheading a campaign of mass killings, systematic sexual violence, and deliberate attacks on civilians in the war-ravaged city of El Fasher, North Darfur. The move, which includes asset freezes and travel bans, marks the latest international response to what multiple humanitarian organizations and eyewitnesses have described as a deliberate and brutal strategy to terrorize and subjugate populations through violence and fear.
The sanctions target Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF’s deputy commander and brother of group leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, alongside major general Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed, brigadier general Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, and field commander Tijani Ibrahim Moussa Mohamed. According to Sky News, these individuals were implicated in orchestrating atrocities during and after the RSF’s capture of El Fasher on October 26, 2025, following an 18-month siege against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
The UK Foreign Office did not mince words in its statement, declaring that the RSF’s actions in El Fasher were “not random” but “part of a deliberate strategy to terrorise populations and seize control through fear and violence.” The government cited satellite imagery that revealed evidence of mass graves, with victims burned and buried, and stressed that these sanctions send “a clear message that those who commit atrocities will be held to account.”
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, unveiling the sanctions package, stated, “The atrocities taking place in Sudan are so horrific they scar the conscience of the world. The overwhelming evidence of heinous crimes — mass executions, starvation, and the systematic and calculated use of rape as a weapon of war — cannot and will not go unpunished. The UK will not look away, and we will always stand with the people of Sudan.”
El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, became the epicenter of violence after the RSF’s protracted siege culminated in its capture. According to reports by Sky News and corroborated by satellite analysis from Yale Humanitarian Labs, the aftermath was catastrophic: at least 7,000 people were killed in the first five days after the city fell, with survivors recounting scenes of horror as they fled. Satellite images showed an extension of a cemetery in nearby Gurnei, matching testimonies of mass burials. High-resolution imagery revealed corpses and large blood stains in the streets, painting a grim picture of the violence unleashed.
One civilian who managed to escape described the harrowing ordeal: “We were stepping over bodies on our way out of the city.” Another survivor told Sky News they were forced to bury fellow captives with their own hands, targeted for execution based on ethnicity. The RSF’s deputy commander, Abdul Rahim Dagalo, was seen in celebratory footage in El Fasher just hours after its fall, with an RSF insider claiming he commanded the entire operation.
Volunteers who attempted to smuggle food and medicine into the besieged city during the siege faced deadly consequences. As reported by Sky News, several were killed or arrested by RSF fighters. Food smuggling coordinators voiced desperation, describing their actions as an effort to save the city from “a slow genocide.” Others pleaded for international intervention, condemning what they saw as the “inhumanity” of global apathy. Many in North Darfur lost loved ones to the RSF’s violent takeover.
In the weeks since the RSF seized control, El Fasher has been largely inaccessible to journalists and major international aid organizations, with the RSF imposing a communications blackout. Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped inside, facing dire conditions. Malam Darfur Peace and Development, a local humanitarian group, became the first to gain access, delivering food aid to 1,200 families in two separate deliveries — one the week before the sanctions announcement and another on December 11, 2025. Lukman Ahmed, the group’s president, described the situation bluntly: “It is absolutely a disaster. People there are suffering. There is no food.” He added, “We hope this operation is going to attract others to come.”
The group reported acute water scarcity and an urgent shortage of medical services, especially for the injured, elderly, and ill. Despite their efforts, Mr. Ahmed stressed that the world’s largest aid organizations have not yet been able to reach El Fasher, as the United Nations continues to negotiate with RSF leaders for safe access amid the ongoing civil war.
The broader conflict in Sudan has been raging since April 2023, with the RSF and the SAF locked in a brutal struggle for control. The RSF had held the capital city, Khartoum, for two years before the army recaptured it in March 2025. Since then, fighting has pivoted to Darfur and southwest Kordofan, with the RSF making significant gains, including the seizure of the strategic railway city of Babanusa and the oil-rich town of Heglieg, raising fears that Sudan could be torn apart along regional lines.
Internationally, the UK’s move follows similar action by the European Union, which sanctioned Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo in November 2025. At home, the UK also announced an additional £21 million (approximately $28 million) in aid for Sudan, earmarked for food, clean water, healthcare, and protection for women and children in the hardest-hit areas. This brings the UK’s total aid spending in Sudan for 2025 to £146 million, underlining the scale of the humanitarian crisis.
Reactions to the UK’s sanctions have been mixed. Minni Minawi, the army-aligned governor of Darfur, welcomed the move as “an important step toward holding accountable those responsible for the crimes and violations witnessed in Sudan in recent times.” However, he argued that the measures “remain incomplete” unless they also target RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, whom he described as “the decision-maker and the direct architect of the violence system.” Notably, Hemedti himself was not included in the UK’s sanctions list.
As the epicenter of Sudan’s war shifts and the humanitarian crisis deepens, the situation in El Fasher stands as a stark reminder of the costs of conflict and the challenges of delivering justice and relief to those most in need. With international attention now focused on holding perpetrators accountable and providing urgent aid, the people of Darfur continue to hope — against daunting odds — for safety, justice, and peace.